In today’s RCT Builder demo we’re creating a tool to move a device into a collection and automate the update/application of the associated machine policies. For this tool, I want to be able to select the collection and let SCCM take care of the rest. Be sure to watch the video below for a complete run-through.Continue reading “RCT Builder Demo: Collection and Update”

Using web services for OSD is a great way to allow your task sequence to request changes to your ConfigMgr or Active Directory environment even if your devices are running from WinPE. The problem with building web services for many IT administrators is that they either need to find a web service online that has all of the functionality that they need, or they need to learn a web development framework to build their own. I wrote the PowerShell Web Service to help bridge the gap – it allows you to customize all of the available web calls by writing new PowerShell scripts or editing the out of box samples. Continue reading “Customizable OSD PowerShell Web Service”

Deploying an updated Office installation has always been an annoyance of mine. It is ideal to be able to deploy a fully updated Office installation so you don’t have to run a software update scan and then wait for all the office patches to download and install. Having to install less software updates can reduce your deployment or build and capture times significantly.

It’s a DevOps world, and that means the pace of change is only going to keep accelerating. But what direction is that change going to take? You are the biggest part of that answer.

Feedback Driven Change

The ConfigMgr and Intune teams are laser focused on customer feedback and data to drive decision making. We see evidence of that in every single major release and minor technical preview. Participating in the processes means that you help shape Continue reading “ConfigMgr and Intune Feedback”

Purchasing imaged devices from vendors can be a hassle. Often times the images sent to the vendor need to be produced differently from the normal image deployment process, leading to extra work for the IT department. Additionally, the images the vendor uses are quickly out of date as new updates, drivers, or applications are applied to the image deployment process. In a typical VAR scenario, a vendor is given a point-in-time snapshot of the image. These snapshots work great for deploying to new systems, but they become out-of-date in short order. With ImageConnect, WIMs are no longer shipped manually to the vendor. We utilize your existing System Center Configuration Manager environment to make sure Now Micro’s production facility always has the most up-to-date version of your image. Since the devices are deployed in the same way as you would deploy them in house, they are ready to ship directly to the end user. When utilizing ImageConnect, the I.T. department no longer needs to finish the image deployment process in house by manually joining the domain, encrypting the devices, or running Windows updates.

Locking down devices can be a difficult task. Even when we take administrator permissions away, our users still find ways to defeat our best intentions. When we restrict things too much, we run the risk of making the device unusable. One way we could prevent configuration drift is by reverting the device to a known-good state at every reboot. There are many solutions that take this approach, but often times they fall short with ConfigMgr managed devices. When combining ConfigMgr with state reset software, administrators need to take extra precautions to ensure their devices are patched, have the latest malware definitions, and maintain healthy ConfigMgr clients. Often ConfigMgr administrators are forced to schedule unlock intervals to allow their workstations to receive these updates.

Are you currently spending an extensive amount of time to find folder paths within ConfigMgr device collections? In this blog post we will walk through three methods and demonstrate how using different data structures can decrease the time spent when querying for large amounts of data.